Imaging devices, such as scanners, copiers, facsimile machines and multipurpose machines, are commercially available for converting tangible images (e.g., documents, photographs) into electronic images. These imaging devices operate by generating light from a light source in the imaging device and reflecting this light off of the surface of the tangible image. The reflected light is collected on an array of photosensitive elements (e.g., a charge coupled device (CCD)), which convert the reflected light into electronic signals representing the image.
The media may be placed in a desired position on the imaging surface (or platen) and the lid closed prior to starting the scanning operation. The platen is often oversized to accommodate a wide variety of different sizes of media (e.g., ranging in size from business cards and photographs to letter and legal-sized paper). As a result, when scanning media that is smaller than the platen size, the resulting scanned image includes “white-space” outside of the borders of the media that was scanned. This white-space then has to be cropped from the scanned image.
The scanned image may be cropped manually. Cropping images is well-known in the image processing art, and typically involves the user clicking and dragging a cursor around the scanned image to form a box along the borders of the scanned image. Software then removes the areas outside of the box from the scanned image to form the final image. However, this approach typically requires a separate computer for interfacing with the user and executing the software.
Algorithms may also be implemented by the imaging device to automatically crop the scanned image following the scanning operation. These algorithms analyze the scanned image and “assume” that blank space in the scanned image (e.g., predetermined number of blank lines) corresponds to white-space, which is then cropped from the scanned image. However, these algorithms are processing-intensive and can be time consuming to execute, thereby slowing the overall scanning operation. In addition, these algorithms can be prone to errors. For example, if the user is scanning a letter-size document having only a few lines of text, the algorithm may crop all but the area having the text, resulting in a much smaller scanned image than the letter-size document which was imaged.
Alternatively, the user may manually specify the size of the media being scanned, either before or after the scanning operation. Accordingly, only the specified is scanned. In this case, the media needs to be properly aligned on the platen surface so that the entire media is scanned. Although most imaging devices include an icon or other instructional language (e.g., the product documentation) illustrating for the user how to orient the media on the platen, this approach is still prone to user error. In addition, while the manufacturer may specify common sizes of media (e.g., letter size, legal size, A4, business card size, etc.), it is impracticable to specify all possible sizes of media that a user may wish to image. In addition, the user would need to measure the media if the media is not a common or well-recognized size, thereby adding a cumbersome step for the user.
In each of these attempts to accommodate different size media, the user may become frustrated when the resulting scanned image does not meet their expectations and the user has to rescan the media.